Two companies behind some of the most popular dating apps in the US are stepping up to help Texans access abortion services in response to a new law that opponents say will block about 85% of abortions. Austin-based Bumble, led by CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, said this week that it was launching a fund "supporting the reproductive rights of women and people across the gender spectrum who seek abortions in Texas," which will benefit organizations including Fund Texas Choice, per CNN. "Bumble is women-founded and women-led, and from day one we've stood up for the most vulnerable. We'll keep fighting against regressive laws like #SB8," the company added.
Meanwhile, Shar Dubey, CEO of Dallas-based Match Group—which owns Match.com, Tinder, Plenty of Fish, OkCupid, and Hinge—said she was creating a fund to help employees and their dependents who need to travel out of state for abortions. "I immigrated to America from India over 25 years ago" and "am shocked that I now live in a state where women's reproductive laws are more regressive than most of the world, including India," Dubey wrote in an internal memo, per Forbes. "Surely everyone should see the danger of this highly punitive and unfair law that doesn't even make an exception for victims of rape or incest," she added.
Texas' new law—which the Supreme Court allowed to stand for now—bans abortion after an ultrasound detects a fetal heartbeat. That's assumed to be around six weeks of pregnancy, before most would even know they're pregnant. However, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has previously argued that there is no true heartbeat at that stage and an ultrasound would instead detect the flickering of tissue within an embryo, which would ultimately develop into a fetus' heart, as it is "electronically induced" by the ultrasound machine.
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A PerryUndem poll released this week found two-thirds of workers with college educations would refuse a job in a state that bars abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told CNBC on Thursday that the state's abortion regulations and voting laws are "accelerating the process of businesses coming to Texas," per the Dallas Morning News. He suggested CEO Elon Musk moved Tesla's operations from California to Texas because of its social policies. "In general, I believe government should rarely impose its will upon the people," Musk responded, adding he "would prefer to stay out of politics." (More abortion stories.)
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